From Ynet News
NGO: 85% of Palestinian complaints to police ignored
Yesh Din claims that investigations into complaints from Palestinians are rarely opened and followed up on even less. Israeli settlers enjoy widespread impunity in crimes on Palestinians in the West Bank, according to a report from an Israeli organization for the defense of Human Rights on Monday.
According to Yesh Din, 85.3% of Palestinian complaints are closed without further action due to the inability of investigators to arrest suspects or to gather enough evidence to file an indictment.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Syrian army pushes back Islamists from ancient Palmyra
World Heritage Site rocked by fighting between Islamic State and forces loyal to the government; 76 reported killed
Syria’s antiquities chief voiced guarded relief on Sunday as government troops pushed jihadists of the Islamic State group back from the remains of ancient Palmyra.
The jihadists, who have demolished several ancient sites in neighboring Iraq, had advanced to within a kilometer (less than a mile) of the UNESCO world heritage site, one of the jewels of classical architecture.
“We have good news today, we feel much better,” antiquities chief Mamoun Abdulkarim told AFP by telephone.
“There was no damage to the ruins, but this does not mean we should not be afraid.”
Provincial governor Talal Barazi told AFP that the army had recaptured northern districts of the modern town of Tadmor which the jihadists had overrun on Saturday.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Republican hopefuls say they’d get tough with terrorists
Bush praises US killing of top IS operative but says it ‘isn’t a strategy’; Santorum: Bomb Iran ‘back to the seventh century’
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Republicans wooing Iowa’s most active party members called Saturday for a stronger presence in the world but ran the gamut in tone and just how tough to get with America’s enemies.
On Armed Services Day — and a day the Obama administration reported killing a senior Islamic State leader in Syria — most of the nearly dozen GOP presidential prospects at a state party dinner called for a more confrontational stance toward Iran.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum’s answer for handling Iran, one of four countries on the U.S. list of nations accused of repeatedly supporting global terrorism, was to “load up our bombers and bomb them back to the seventh century.”
Earlier in the day, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised U.S. commandos who had reportedly killed the IS leader, described as the head of oil operations for IS. Bush gave no credit to Obama, whom Bush accused of allowing the rise of IS by pulling back U.S. forces from Iraq.
“It’s a great day, but it’s not a strategy,” Bush told reporters in eastern Iowa.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Israelis, Palestinians clash in East al-Quds
Clashes have broken out between Israelis and Palestinians in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) during a rally on the occasion of what the Tel Aviv regime calls the Jerusalem Day.
Violence erupted near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of al-Quds on Sunday as Israeli hardliners marched to mark the 48th anniversary of the regime’s occupation of East al-Quds.
Israeli police intervened to disperse the crowds.
The confrontations left two Israeli officers injured. Two Palestinians were also detained by Israeli forces.
People are participating in the march “with the support of an extremist” regime, AFP quoted a Palestinian woman, Muna Barbar, as saying.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
S. Arabia calls in off-the-shelf nuke option with Pakistan – report
At the prospect of the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia has reportedly taken a decision to call in an old favor from Pakistan and get some of its nuclear weapons.
Saudi Arabia is widely believed to have bankrolled the Pakistani nuclear weapons program. In exchange, Riyadh reportedly expects Islamabad to provide missiles in times of trouble to defend the kingdom.
“For the Saudis the moment has come,” a former American defense official told The Sunday Times newspaper.“There has been a longstanding agreement in place with the Pakistanis, and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward.”
According to the report, no actual transfer of weapons has taken place yet, but “the Saudis mean what they say and they will do what they say,” the source reportedly said.
From Russia Today
‘Prize operatives’: ISIS smuggling fighters into Europe ‘disguised as refugees’
Islamic State is smuggling fighters into Europe, commanding them to disguise themselves as refugees, according to a Libyan government adviser. The militants are reportedly profiting by ‘taxing’ those operating the overcrowded boats.
Abdul Basit Haroun told BBC 5 Live Investigates programme that the boats are used “for their [the Islamic State’s] people who they want to send to Europe, as the European police don’t know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee or not.” The militants are reportedly being aided by trafficking gangs who operate in parts of North Africa controlled by the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
He added that the militants “sit down separately, they come alone and in the boat they are not scared at all. They are for IS — 100 percent.”
From Russia Today
Saudis resume airstrikes on Yemen following five-day humanitarian ceasefire
The five-day humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen has ended with the resumption of Saudi-led air strikes against Houthi rebel positions, despite United Nations envoys’ calls for an extension of the truce.
Coalition airstrikes hit rebel positions and tanks in several neighborhoods of the port city of Aden, Yemeni security officials told the Associated Press when the ceasefire expired at 11:00pm on Sunday.
“They began bombing Aden a few minutes ago,” an army commander loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed to Sputnik.
From Russia Today
ISIS claims full control of Ramadi after Iraqi troops abandon positions (VIDEO)
Edited time: May 18, 2015 11:55
Iraqi forces have retreated from a compound they used as a command center in Ramadi, losing control of Aden’s provincial capital to Islamic State militants, despite substantial US airstrike support helping Iraqi troops and loyal militia hold the city.
“Ramadi has fallen,”said Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the governor of Anbar province. “The city was completely taken. … The military is fleeing.” The spokesman added that at least 500 people were killed in the jihadist offensive.
As the key Iraqi city fell into IS hands, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan arrived to meet his Iranian counterpart Khaled al-Obeidi. Iran is a key ally of Iraq in its war against the jihadists, with the Iranian military supporting Shiite militias fighting for Baghdad.
Several militia groups are converging near Ramadi for a counter-offensive against the militant group.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
US raid in Syria said to kill 32 Islamic State members
Monitoring group reports 4 leaders dead; American official confirms commandos fought jihadis in close combat in rare ground operation
BEIRUT — A US special forces raid in eastern Syria killed 32 members of the Islamic State jihadist group, including four leaders, a monitoring group said Sunday.
“The US operation killed 32 members of IS, among them four officials, including IS oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy IS defense minister, and an IS communications official,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
US officials have said “about a dozen” people were killed in the operation on Friday night, which was conducted by Iraq-based US commandos in order to capture Abu Sayyaf.
Abdel Rahman said three of the four leading officials killed in the raid were from North Africa, but that the IS communications official was Syrian.
US President Barack Obama approved the special forces operation, a rare use of “boots on the ground” by the United States, which has fought the jihadists almost entirely from the air.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
At least 50 arrested in Israeli organized crime investigation
JERUSALEM (JTA) — At least 50 people were arrested in connection with a massive Israeli investigation into organized crime.
A gag order was partially lifted on the case Monday.
Dozens of homes were raided in Israel and abroad, and cars, bank accounts and properties were seized due to their links to organized crime.
The suspects are allegedly connected to cases in Israel that include murders, drug trafficking and violent offenses.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
US ‘deeply concerned’ by death sentence for Egypt’s Morsi
Hamas also speaks out against ruling which includes death sentences for 70 Palestinians among 120 people in total, including ousted leader; four killed in Sinai
The United States said it was “deeply concerned” about former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi’s death sentence Sunday, joining a growing list of countries and international groups who have condemned Saturday’s court decision to execute the former leader.
Judge Shaaban el-Shami sentence Morsi and over 100 others to death over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and later brought Islamists to power for the first time in Egypt.
Before a death penalty decision can be finalized against Morsi or the over 100 other defendants included in El-Shami’s decision, however, the case must be reviewed by Grand Mufti of Egypt Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, according to Egyptian law.
Though the decision is not yet final, the ruling has drawn a chorus of international condemnation, joining Washington, Hamas and a host of others in opposition to the execution.
“We are deeply concerned by yet another mass death sentence handed down by an Egyptian court to more than 100 defendants, including former President Morsi,” a State Department official told Reuters Saturday.
Click here for the full story
